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[telecom] Chips in credit cards

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Wes Leatherock

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May 16, 2013, 11:30:44 AM5/16/13
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I received a routine renewal of a credit card carlier this week that
included a funny symbol on the front and an enclosure with it that
said it included a chip so it could be used in other places that
reuire it such as Canada, Mexico and the U.K.

Wes Leatherock
wlea...@yahoo.com
wes...@aol.com

John Levine

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May 17, 2013, 12:10:55 AM5/17/13
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In article <1368718244.35293...@web125206.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> you write:
>
>I received a routine renewal of a credit card carlier this week that
>included a funny symbol on the front and an enclosure with it that
>said it included a chip so it could be used in other places that
>reuire it such as Canada, Mexico and the U.K.

The chip is easy enough to see, a fingernail sized thing with obvious
contact pads. If it has a little curved line logo, that's a contactless
chip (Paypass, Express Pay, etc.) which is something else.

Which credit card company was it? Did they give you a PIN, or is it
chip+signature?

tlvp

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May 17, 2013, 8:17:40 PM5/17/13
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On Thu, 16 May 2013 08:30:44 -0700 (PDT), Wes Leatherock wrote of a ... :

> ... credit card ... that included a funny symbol on the front ...

Something like four concentric wave-front ripples propagating out to the
right? code-named "blink"? If so, that's a contactless rf chip, as John
Levine described, enabling both you to pay by "waving" you card before a
payment terminal (as opposed to swiping the card through it), and astute
malefactors to simulate your having "waved" your card before their
(illicit) payment terminals, thereby gaining your (unwilling) custom :-) .

Cheers, -- tlvp
--
Avant de repondre, jeter la poubelle, SVP.

Bill Horne

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May 18, 2013, 9:50:32 AM5/18/13
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On 5/17/2013 12:10 AM, John Levine wrote:
> In article<1368718244.35293...@web125206.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> you write:

>> I received a routine renewal of a credit card carlier this week
>> that included a funny symbol on the front and an enclosure with it
>> that said it included a chip so it could be used in other places
>> that reuire it such as Canada, Mexico and the U.K.

> The chip is easy enough to see, a fingernail sized thing with
> obvious contact pads.

That's what my TWIC card looks like. They told me that my biometric
data is encoded in it: will credit cards have similar info?

Bill

--
Bill Horne
(Remove QRM from my address to write to me directly)

SMS

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May 18, 2013, 1:55:03 PM5/18/13
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On 5/16/2013 8:30 AM, Wes Leatherock wrote:
>
> I received a routine renewal of a credit card carlier this week that
> included a funny symbol on the front and an enclosure with it that
> said it included a chip so it could be used in other places that
> reuire it such as Canada, Mexico and the U.K.

And most of Europe. My friends just were in Europe with a chipless
credit card and was a huge hassle to not be able to use it at so many
places.

John Levine

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May 18, 2013, 11:25:25 PM5/18/13
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>> The chip is easy enough to see, a fingernail sized thing with
>> obvious contact pads.
>
>That's what my TWIC card looks like. They told me that my biometric
>data is encoded in it: will credit cards have similar info?

Not unless they change the EMV standard.

Wes Leatherock

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May 19, 2013, 10:14:26 AM5/19/13
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--- On Thu, 5/16/13, John Levine <jo...@iecc.com> wrote:

> In article <1368718244.35293...@web125206.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> you > write:
>> I received a routine renewal of a credit card carlier this week
>> that included a funny symbol on the front and an enclosure with it
>> that said it included a chip so it could be used in other places
>> that reuire it such as Canada, Mexico and the U.K.

> The chip is easy enough to see, a fingernail sized thing with
> obvious contact pads. If it has a little curved line logo, that's a
> contactless chip (Paypass, Express Pay, etc.) which is something
> else.

I see now that the "funny symbol" is actually the chip itself, with
contact pads beside it.

> Which credit card company was it? Did they give you a PIN, or is it
> chip+signature?

It is a Bank of America MasterCard. It may have a PIN; I don't know.
A PIN for a credit card is useful only for making a cash advance at an
ATM, with a bunch of fees and higher interest than on purchases. A
debit card is a much cheaper way to get money.


Wes Leatherock

wlea...@yahoo.com

wes...@aol.com



Wes Leatherock

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May 19, 2013, 10:34:23 AM5/19/13
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On Friday 17 May 2013,
As I have noted, the "funny symbol" I described I now see to be the
chip itself.

Is the symbol you describe the one that appeared on Mobil credit cards
you simply had to wave at the pump?


Wes Leatherock

wlea...@yahoo.com

wes...@aol.com

John Levine

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May 19, 2013, 1:55:21 PM5/19/13
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>> Which credit card company was it? Did they give you a PIN, or is it
>> chip+signature?

>It is a Bank of America MasterCard. It may have a PIN; I don't know.
>A PIN for a credit card is useful only for making a cash advance at
>an ATM, with a bunch of fees and higher interest than on purchases.
>A debit card is a much cheaper way to get money.

A credit card PIN is extremely useful in places such as Canada and
most of Europe where chip+pin is the normal way to use a card. If you
want to use your card at an unattended kiosk, such as the ones in
France where you can rent a bike by the hour, or a gas pump in rural
Iceland, a card needs both a chip and a PIN to work. (I speak from
experience.)

These are regular charges, not cash advances.

--
Regards,
John Levine, jo...@iecc.com, Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies",
Please consider the environment before reading this e-mail. http://jl.ly
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